One Heart to Another
by xXWonderlandAngelXx
Summary: Maybe it was, in fact, a bit creepy. But after years of watching his beloved from afar, Kisshu discovers one night that Ichigo Momomiya's perfect boyfriend may not be so perfect after all. Now it's up to him to get her out of a bad situation. Rated T just to be safe. Cover image credit to original owner!
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone! I'm back after forever...And I have a new fic that I'm going to start, so I hope you all enjoy it! This first chapter is short just to get me started, they'll be longer in the future I promise!

~Lyn

Even years later, he still found himself hovering outside the bedroom of Ichigo Momomiya. Every so often, she came home from college, and Kisshu enjoyed watching her read or surf the internet. Strangely enough, he had never seen that Aoyama kid around after his departure with Taruto and Pai. But maybe that was due to the fact that he never stayed for too long, and his visits were infrequent.

On this particular night, Ichigo looked a bit more tired than usual. Kisshu didn't know much about the concept of 'college', but it wasn't hard to deduce that it was, in fact, stressful for the majority. He watched her pull out her singular ponytail, letting her long strawberry hair fall down just barely past her shoulders.

Her usual routine would have her grabbing a set of pajamas and heading off to the bathroom, but something was off tonight. Maybe it was the way she carelessly tossed her hair ribbon onto her desk. Maybe it was the way she had kicked off her mary-jane shoes and left them overturned in the corner. Maybe it was the way she seemed to drift over to her bed, rain in the edges of her eyes, letting herself fall onto the rosy pink bed sheets.

Either way, he could sense the exhaustion radiating from each breath that raised her chest up and down. She curled up into a ball facing away from the window and lay there on top of the bed sheets for a long time, unmoving. It almost looked like she was crying, but when she sat up again, her makeup was all perfectly in place.

He confirmed something was wrong by the way she ripped off her bell collar and hurled it at the sliding glass window.

The loud thunk against the glass startled Kisshu, and he fell from the tree, landing flat on his back on the concrete walkway in front of her house. He groaned, not hearing the window above slowly slide open.

"Wh-who's there?" Ichigo's wavering voice just barely made it's way to his ears.

Kisshu sat up quickly and remained rigid, not wanting to teleport to give away his identity. The red head looked around for a few more moments, then pulled back inside and shut the window before her eyes could adjust to the dark.

He breathed a sigh of relief, then flew back up to his perch on the tree. The bell still lay on the floor next to the glass where it had fallen as she sat down in front of her mirror and pulled out a small towelette from a box.

He couldn't understand why she was wiping purple stains around her face and on her arms until he realized several minutes later that it was cover up that was coming off onto the cloth.

Kisshu's mouth dropped open and he froze, staring at all the bruises decorating his beloved's body, not realizing she was staring back at his reflection in the mirror.

Ichigo dropped her makeup remover towelette. She didn't dare move an inch, but she could see someone watching her through the window. Her mirror was positioned at just the right angle so that she could see outside, and there was definitely a figure sitting in the tree.

Her pulse quickened and her breathing got shaky. What if it was him...?

Trying to act casual, Ichigo leaned over, pretending to pick up the cloth but secretly reaching for her Mew Pendant, which she kept in a small crook under her desk. Her fingers clenched tightly around the dusty metal that hadn't been touched for years-

And then her ears filled with a distantly familiar sound as a pair of paled hands clasped around her mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone, it hasn't been too long thank goodness. I'm trying to stay on top of this, and I'm also trying to get back into the groove of fanfiction, it's been awhile so I'm a bit rusty and my chapters are shorter than the ones I did years ago. Thank you to the few who noticed my story and reviewed, that means a lot 3

~Lyn

"Shh! Ichigo!" Kisshu hissed at her, trying to keep her quiet. The girl was reflexively fighting, clawing at his thin arms leaving long trails of bright red skin. But those were nothing compared to the dark purple blotches tattooed onto her body. They swarmed her peachy complex like a toxin.

He tried again, wrapping one arm around her waist and letting his hand fall off of her mouth. "Ichigo, it's me, Kisshu."

Ichigo froze, her breath faltering. She glanced down at the skeleton fingers with ragged nails that were wrapped around her. The bandages on the arms, the wisps of green in the corners of her eyes, the scent of dirt mixed with the smallest amount of spices...

All of the air slowly let out of her lungs, and she sagged her head forward in relief. _It's nice_, she realized, _to be held like this and not be afraid for once..._  
>Bandages. Green. Spices. Just as suddenly, the Mew Mew snapped her head up and jammed her elbow into the alien's left rib. Kisshu let out a sharp cough and doubled over, clutching his torso. "I-Ichi-?"<p>

"What are you doing?!" She spat the words out at him harsh, just like so many times in the past. The tone jostled something in Kisshu's memory and he felt a twinge of pain growing in the back of his mind. "And why are you here?! You creep, I thought I heard something earlier! Peeping through my window-"

"Ichigo-"

"-and then coming into my room?! Out of all the lewd, perverted things for you to do, I can't believe you-"

"_Ichigo_-"

"-have the indecency to _spy_ on me and then intrude on my privacy! Just how long exactly were you sitting out there? How many times have I slept in my room while you were just outside my window? It's been how many years now, and you still can't-"

"_Ichigo_!"

Ichigo paused mid-rant, pink eyes dilated ever so slightly like a cat's. Her knuckles were white around her Mew Pendant, and she was poised to activate her transformation.

Kisshu didn't quite know what to say. Under any other circumstance, he would have tried to hug her again, or tease her and ask her if she'd missed him. The truth was, regardless of how much she loathed him following her like a puppy, he always kept safe the little part of him that still believed she could one day love him. He'd always love her, his rebellious kitty-cat. But now wasn't the time for any of his moronic antics. After years of rehearsing all the things he wanted to tell her, no words came to his mind to express what needed to be said. All that time practicing gone to waste because as much as he wanted to, now was the wrong time to tell her he missed her.

Her shallow breathing filled the room. The sound of a car pulling into the driveway below filtered through the pink walls. Ichigo glanced down, then slowly walked over to her bedroom door and turned the lock.

The daggers from years ago were still embedded deep into in her words, stabbing him with every syllable. "What do you want, Kisshu."

Kisshu looked down, chewing on the inside of his mouth. He had to say something, but every smooth line and witty comeback he had in his arsenal were inapplicable to this moment.

"If you've come to declare your unending love for me, you can get the hell out of here right now."

He winced, accidentally letting the hurt show on his face ever so slightly. Although it had been a dream of his to come back and have her dramatically come running into his arms sobbing that she had made a mistake, he felt it all shatter at the conformation, once again, that Ichigo Momomiya despised every part of his being.

"What. Do. You. Want. From. Me."

No time to think. "I just-" Damn, why was it so hard to talk to her now? Is that what years without a face to face conversation did?

"Just?"

"I just...wanted to make sure you were...doing okay..." The end of his sentence trailed off into a mumble.

"What?" The edge in her voice abruptly disappeared, only to be replaced with complete confusion. "If I'm okay? Of co-"

"You're not though," Kisshu interjected. If he was going to say anything, it needed to be now before she dumped him out the window. "Okay, I have been being really creepy lately... But Ichigo, I never would have bothered you if it weren't-" He strode over to her cautiously, and gingerly lifted her arm. "-for this-"

"That's none of your business!" Ichigo yanked her arm away.

Kisshu backed off just out of range of her fist's reach. "Ichigo, I just want to know what happened."

"Get out, Kisshu," she whispered through clenched teeth.

"Koneko-chan..." He reached out to brush her hair behind her ear, then stopped at the way she ducked her head and scrunched her eyes shut, flinching.

"Don't-don't call me-"'

"Oh Ichigo..."

She darted around him, grabbing a mismatching pajama top and shorts, then headed out of the room, leaving Kisshu standing alone in the middle of her pink carpet. He sighed and turned to go as he heard the shower turn on, and opened the window. Quietly, he shut it behind him and hovered back over to his spot on the tree.

The door to her bedroom opened slowly about an hour later. He didn't notice at first through his tired eyes, but he saw when she stood in the spot where he had been and looked around.

Ichigo opened her window again. "K-Kisshu...?" His name sounded so foreign to her tongue when she said it gently.

Kisshu didn't answer, knowing she couldn't see him.

"Ah...I guess you're not here anymore, which is my fault I guess... But if you are, I wanted to know if y-you could stay with me tonight...so that I feel safe..."

His ears perked up at that, but he still didn't respond.

Ichigo sighed, shutting the window, but, he noticed, not locking it. The alien watched as she tossed a pillow onto the floor next to her bed and lay a blanket down by it. The light flickered off.

After several more minutes of waiting in the tree, which was getting noticeably less comfortable, he slid open the glass and quietly entered her room, which seemed more welcoming now. He didn't noticed her eyes peeking at him through her eyelashes as he lay down, he didn't feel her fingers gently brush his hair as he fell asleep, and he didn't realize that she was closing her eyes without feeling scared for the first time in months.


	3. Chapter 3

I hope that after this fanfiction I can write something more intricate and detailed. I suppose this is my stepping stone to get back into the swing of things, I'm so rusty. I hope you enjoy this chapter, I'm trying to make them a bit longer.

~Lyn

The first time Ichigo's alarm went off, she slammed the snooze button down without realizing it, rolled over, and promptly fell asleep again. The second time it went off, thirty minutes later, she jolted upright and was horrified to realize she was running late. And it was Saturday.

Saturday was date day.

She scrambled out of bed, not noticing that Kisshu had left the first time her alarm had buzzed, mostly because it had startled him. Date day. She was running late for her Saturday date for the second week in a row.

The first thing in her closet that caught her eye was a yellow tank top, which she grabbed off the hanger, followed by a denim jacket and Capri's. When Masaya had first suggested the idea of designating every Saturday as their day to go out, Ichigo had been ecstatic. After all a whole day to spend with her beloved Aoyama-kun was quite nearly the best thing ever. She had wanted to spend every second of ever day with him always at his side.  
>But gradually over the last couple of years, he had...changed. Sure, he was still Masaya on the outside, but the part of him that would have sacrificed himself for Ichigo so many years ago seemed to be dwindling away little by little. His environmental volunteer work nearly always came first, and although they had decided to move in together in a small apartment, he often came home late and left early. Once she had asked him if he thought the environment was more important than her, which had led to a full scale argument over how she shouldn't ever compare herself to that, and ended with her locking herself in the bathroom for several hours while Masaya stormed out.<p>

She loved him so much, but sometimes she missed the boy she had fell in love with when she was thirteen.

Of course, none of that was important at the moment. Ichigo was too busy coating her arms in foundation and decorating her eyes with eyeliner and mascara to think of anything else.

Last week, she had arrived 15 minutes late at the restaurant because she had been up late working on a school project. Not only had Aoyama been upset, he had dedicated the rest of the day to one-word answers, and had made her pay for both shares of the food.

No, she absolutely could not be late again.

Ichigo was dressed and running out the door in her sneakers in record time. Five minutes.

The light at the crosswalk was taking too long. Four minutes.

Saturdays were always busy in this part of town, why couldn't people just walk faster? Three minutes.

She was gasping for breath and stopped to walk for several feet. Two minutes.

At last, with one minute to go, the movie theater entrance came into view. She sprinted towards the main entrance and burst into the main lobby, flustered and panting hard. Masaya was sitting at a table on the side and waved her over.

"You made it today!" His voice was cheerful and she forced a tired smile back, but a small part of her caught the glint in his eye that said he had been expecting her to be tardy.

"Y-yeah, I did."

"C'mon," he said, standing up and putting his arm around her waist, waving two tickets in the air with his free hand. "I got us tickets for the new horror film that came out a week ago."

She lowered her head as the attendant ripped off the stubs and handed them back to Masaya. "A-Aoyama-kun, you know I don-"

"I know, I know, you don't like horror too much, but I think you'll really like this movie. It's a different kind of horror, not screaming or violent or anything. The main. character goes..."

He continued to talk about what the movie was about, fading into a background noise as Ichigo unconsciously began throwing her mental barriers up. She didn't hear him ask if she wanted butter on the popcorn when they reached the concession stand, and only nodded slightly because she knew he was saying something. When they got into the theater, the commercials had already started. Both of them sat in the middle of the top row, Ichigo snuggling into Masaya's arm around her shoulder, mostly in anxious anticipation.

Kisshu was sitting in yet another tree, this one in the park across the street from the theater Ichigo had just run into. When her clock had gone off that morning, it had scared him to death, and he had thought there was some sort of emergency. _What a dumb method of getting yourself awake_, he grumbled to himself.

It hurt a little watching her speed through her morning routine without even wondering where he had gone. For whatever reason, the human calendar only had seven days instead of the ten he was used to. Every seventh day was Ichigo's day with the stupid human boy.

Kisshu hated when they went to the movies or a restaurant or the museum. If they were just in the park he could watch them at least. In the buildings however, he lost track of her and that made him uncomfortable.

The alien sighed again, leaning back against the trunk of the tree and closing his eyes. Come think of it, he _was_ being a little creepy. He mused over it for awhile, and then shrugged it off, because after all, he had always been a creep.

About an hour later, he was pulled from his nap by the sound of voices below him.

"Ichigo I _paid _for us to see that!" Aoyama wasn't yelling, but the look in his eyes was so much more venomous than that. Ichigo turned to walk away, visibly shaken, but he grabbed her arm harder than he should have. "Don't walk away from me Ichigo."

"Aoyama-kun I can't-"

"Can't what? I just wasted twenty-five dollars because you walked out halfway through! It wasn't that scary, what's wrong with you?"

"I-I'm sorry Aoyama-kun but I don't like-"

"Enough with the bullshit!" Ichigo was familiar with that tone and was flinching before he even raised his hand and slapped her across the face.  
>There was no one else around in the park. Kisshu stared long and hard at what he had just witnessed. That asshole had just <em>slapped<em> his beloved Koneko-chan. Out of all the things...

He came to another realization: that explained all the bruises on her arms.

Masaya Aoyama, her perfect, tan prince charming was...abusing her...?

"S-Sorry..." she stammered.

Evidently Masaya knew he shouldn't have done that as well, because he puked out a half-hearted apology and moved to hug her, but she pushed him away and ran off.

Masaya stood blankly in the park watching his girlfriend leave him behind. As much as Kisshu wanted to strangle him, Ichigo was his main concern. He got up quietly and flew after her.


	4. Chapter 4

I'm back! This chapter made it to two pages on Microsoft word, so I guess that's progress, right? I hope you all enjoy, and thank you LovelyLilly13 for letting me know it wasn't publishing correctly! (Also, there may or may not be fluff coming up sometime…mwehehe…)

~Lyn

Her home was just around the corner, but she didn't stop there for fear Masaya would come after her. Instead, she streaked past and slowed to a stop in a small alleyway, breathing hard.

Ichigo's head was swimming, partially from the slap, partially from wondering why Aoyama-kun had done that. Glancing around to make sure no one was watching her, she positioned herself between two garbage cans and slumped against the wall, bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.

He'd hit her again.

It hadn't been the first time; on several occasions he had come home just a bit tipsy and had freaked over trivial things. The red-head wondered to herself what she could do to do better, to make him love her the way he did back when he was Deep Blue.

Except the problem was, this was all him. Unlike Deep Blue, this side of him couldn't be exorcised.

This time, she let the tears fall, and rehearsed in her head how she was going to formally apologize and make it up to him. _Aoyama-kun, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking and it won't happen again... I'm really sorry Aoyama-kun, I'll pay you back and I won't do it next time..._

Her nose was dripping and she wiped it away with a tissue from her purse. Smears of wet, black mascara came off, and she realized she was probably looking like a raccoon now. Sitting on the ground wasn't comfortable, but at least it was quiet with no one around.

Except for Kisshu, who had lost track of her and became the tiniest bit frantic when he didn't see her at her home. There was no way he could just call her name and attract attention to himself. At the same time, he needed to find her, and that would be the easiest way.

The street was empty, and so he landed, hoping to find her if he could see things at ground level. Kisshu ran a finger through his forest green hair, sighing to himself. He was being creepy again. Would this qualify as 'stalking'...?

Further down the street, he passed by the small alley where he had cornered Ichigo and tried to make her come with him. Now that he was older, he could see why she had been so scared.

For nostalgia's sake, he turned into it. At the end was a tall, ragged, white wall, which he gingerly touched, then leaned his forehead against. "Ichigo...please be okay..."

The red head, who hadn't noticed him, raised her head from her knees only to find Kisshu standing above her, head against a wall.

"K-Kisshu?"

He jumped, looking around quickly until he laid eyes on her. "Ichigo! Ichigo, you-" Before he finished his sentence, he knelt down and drew her into a tight embrace, stroking her messy strawberry hair. It smelled like peaches actually, but that didn't matter. Nothing else did, his beloved was safe right here with him, and that was most important.

"Kisshu...?" she whispered, confused, but not shoving him away as was traditional.

"Shh, don't talk, you don't have to say anything right now. I've got you, you're safe."

"...Kisshu..." Ichigo's voice cracked as she flung her arms around his neck and clung to the back of his shirt, breaking out in silent sobbing.

"It...started so long ago I can't recall..." Ichigo began hesitantly. Her and Kisshu sat atop Tokyo Tower, her head on his shoulder, his arm around her waist. It was midday, and the sun had already began its descent. A slow breeze passed around them, flitting about their hair and gently moving their clothes back and forth in a casual sway. Ichigo had stopped crying, but her eyes were still red and puffy, and her voice quiet and submissive,

"Go on," Kisshu coaxed her gently. He felt the same way he had felt in her room yesterday: ecstatic to be around her, hell, even _holding_ her, but also restrained because this was the wrong time to profess his endless affection for his kitty-cat.

There was another long pause as a flock of birds flew past. "...Or...I guess it really started when we went off to college..."

Kisshu stayed silent, not wanting to interrupt her.

"Aoyama-kun and I...we both went to different colleges, but they're both still in the area. He always has been into the environment, which I never minded. I always thought it was cute, the way he was so concerned about the planet." She took a breath. "Then he joined this one environmental club...And everything started going downhill little by little."

"How so?"

"Well I-he-first, he began coming home later and later. I barely saw him on weekdays since he 'had a club meeting' or 'had volunteer work'. Then one night I think he had had a bit much to drink..."

Kisshu looked sideways at her. "Drink?"

"Alcohol-drink alcohol. It makes your head funny."

"Oh."

She continued. "I didn't realize he was...drunk because I was in the bathroom taking a shower...When I came out, he was sitting on the couch with the television on."

Kisshu had no idea which human device was a television, but he didn't bother to ask.

"And I asked him, 'Aoyama-kun, you're never around anymore, is the environment really so much more important than I am?' The-" Ichigo's words caught in her throat. "The look he gave me...it...wasn't Aoyama-kun anymore...He started yelling about things that didn't make sense, and then he-he-"

"He hit you," Kisshu concluded.

The waterworks had started up again. "That's why-that's why my arms..." Her sentence trailed off into sniffles.

The alien didn't quite know what to say. He had somewhat been able to infer that this is what had been going on, but now that it had all been presented to him, he realized he wasn't much of an advice giver. "Ichigo..."

"I'm so scared, Kisshu... Why doesn't he love me? What can I do better?"

He was shocked. "Ichigo, none of this is your fault! It's him who's in the wrong here."

She sat up shaking her head, still sitting as close to him as possible. "He used to love me, I just need to find out how to make him love me again...What's wrong with me..."

Kisshu pulled her closer. "Nothing is, Koneko-chan."

The nickname didn't bother her this time. "I-I'll figure something out..."

"Ichigo, you deserve so much better than him."

"No, he deserves better than me."

"You can't stay in a relationship with him if he hurts you!" He raised his tone unknowingly in frustration.

She reacted immediately and pushed away from him. "It's not his fault that I'm a bad girlfriend!"

"Damn it Ichigo, you need to find someone who'll love unconditionally you for who you are!"

"What, like you?!" she spat back.

Kisshu's mind stopped mid-thought as if broken. He stared at Ichigo, at her hair moving with the wind, at her bright and perfect eyes. Once again, he wanted to tell her yes, _he _would love her, _he_ would never hurt her, _he_ would treat her like the beautiful princess she was.  
>But what came out instead was, "...No...Not me..." Gingerly, he took her hand and teleported her back down to the base of the tower. It was considerably warmer at ground level.<p>

Ichigo had instantly regretted what she had said. "Kisshu, I-"

He put a finger to his lips as he smiled at her with glazed over eyes, then teleported away before she could see him cry with raw emotion.


End file.
